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Plans announced for upcoming holiday concert at Royal Theatre

A special holiday event is scheduled Saturday, Dec. 22, at the Royal Theatre in Downtown Benton.
The event will feature Oksana Pavilionis of Ovation Music Academy and others from her studio.
In addition to Pavilionis on 7-strings electric violin, performers will include Slavek Bolubah on drums and Brian Hamby on organ and piano.
Guest vocal artists also will be included in the program that will include Christmas selections as well as other holiday music.
Pavilionis said this will be "an exciting concert that will bring a lot of holiday energy and joy to our listeners."
Community residents are invited to attend the 7 p.m. event.
Pavilionis, a concert violinist, says she enjoys switching "from a heartrending song by Rachmaninoff to a lilting waltz by Strauss, then to a fiddle tune that would make you believe I was born in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas."
She calls herself "a perfectionist without a perfectionist’s temperament."
In her solo performances, she says she strives to "showcase the beauty of string music and demonstrate the variety of music that can be performed with a stringed instrument."
Pavilionis began playing at the age of 5 in Russia and started teaching shortly after that. She says she now wants to bring the "beauty of classical music to the people of Arkansas."
She plays violin with the Fort Smith Symphony and has recorded several CD's, which are available through her local academy.
Most recently, she won the Musician of the Year honor from the Royal Players in Benton for her work as music director for the musical "Nobody's Business."
Pavilionis is the founder and owner of Ovation Music Academy and holds three master's degrees in music education, performance and child psychology. She also teaches violin, piano, and group string lessons at the academy, where she says she carefully selects and oversees the work of others teachers to maintain a high quality level of music education.
Svyatoslav (Slavek) Bolubah is the Ovation Music Academy drum and saxophone instructor. He has studied music at Gateway College of Evangelism in St. Louis, Mo., as well as recorded with the college choir, chorale and ensemble.
Svyatosalv is featured on Pavilionis' CD's and other recordings. He frequently performs on both alto sax and drums throughout the Central Arkansas area and most recently at the Arkansas Capitol.
He is currently pursuing a business degree at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock .
Brian Hamby teaches voice, piano, and music theory at the academy. He is a jazz/gospel organist and pianist who studied at Lamar University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music composition. Previously from Austin, Texas, he has performed at numerous major venues. Currently, he is the organist and pianist at the Scope Ministries Christian Fellowship Church in Little Rock. He also performs regularly with Pavilionis.
The concert also will feature jazz singers Michelle Smith-Flint and Michelle Young-Hobbs, as well as a group of young musicians; and students from Ovation Music Academy, who will play "Silent Night" together in a violin ensemble and sing together as a choir.
Michelle Smith-Flint has performed in a number of original stage plays including"Nobody’s Business" at the Royal Theatre; "In the Potter’s House"; "Hold On, a Change is Coming"; "I’ve Fallen, But I Can Get Up"; and "Till Death Do Us Part."
Michelle Young-Hobbs enjoys singing and modeling and has done so for Work of Art Modeling Troupe. Michelle played Sina-Belle in the recent production of"Nobody’s Business."
"We invite all to come to our wonderful concert," Pavilionis said. "It will be an unforgettable experience and a wonderful gift to our community."
For tickets information, contact Ovation Music Academy at www.OvationMusicAcademy.com or 870-405-6856.